R.L. Burnside: My Black Name A-Ringin’

From Adelphi’s The Blues Vault Series come four vital reissues: R.L. Burnside, My Black Name A-Ringin’ (Adelphi/Genes 9917; 44:42)-Hard to imagine anything as simple, direct and powerful as this acoustic offering by a young Burnside, recorded in 1969 when he was still a Mississippi sharecropper working in the cotton fields. With occasional backing from Jesse Vortis on second guitar and Red Ramsey on harmonica, this is basically one chord and a whole lot of living. It doesn’t get any realer or more profoundly blue than his “Sat Down On My Bed and Cried,” his hypnotic “Long Haired Doney” or the mournful title track. A lost gem that has finally come to light after three decades.

Originally Published May 1, 2000